The Influence of Environmental factors on the use of social media for e-commerce in ornamental plant farmers

¹ Department of Communication Science and Community Development, Faculty of Human Ecology, IPB University, FEMA IPB Building Wing 1, 2nd Floor, Kamper Street, IPB Darmaga Campus, Bogor 16680, West Java, Indonesia
² Study Program of Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture, Jambi University, Jambi – Muara Bulian Street Km. 15 Mendalo Darat, Sumatera, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: pera_nur@unja.ac.id

Abstract

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to reduce poverty by providing farmers with the widest possible access to information. Farmers’ limited access to information has resulted in poor digital literacy regarding the use of digital technology. The digital literacy gap occurs when the use of digital technology does not provide useful results due to the low skills of digital farmers, resulting in gaps in farmers’ participation in development. The results of this study found a solution to overcome the digital literacy gap through a social media approach through social systems. This route connects farmers with the farming community on social media so that it can encourage changes in farmer behavior, namely, willingness to market ornamental plants via social media. This study aims to determine the factors that influence the use of social media for e-commerce on farmers' behavior in using social media for e-commerce. This study used a survey method with a cross-sectional approach (research carried out once at a certain time). Data analysts use PLS-SEM version 3.0, which is supported by interview results. The research sample consisted of 210 randomly selected farmers who had smartphones and sold ornamental plants on social media.